: ee RE Rant ray, 
LETTER X. 
7 
VARIETIES OF LIFE ON ANIWA—CORALS—REMARKS ON THE 
FORMATION OF THESE ISLANDS. 
Aniwa, 
September, 1872. 
oan 
OU ask me how the missionary and his wife in the New 
Hebrides employ their time ? what is their daily routine of du- 
ties ? what do they eat? &c., &c. You say that you can never 
get any information on these homely subjects—that you read 
the mission reports, but are none the wiser. Now, in trying 
to answer you, I find myself placed in a somewhat difficult 
position ; for although all the missionaries come here with the 
same end in view,each has his own way of carrying it out. 
Therefore, unless I were to confine myself to one, I must, to 
a certain extent, deal in generalities. 
As there are no shops here, and no skilled workmen, the 
missionary has necessarily a great deal of manual labour ; and 
. instead of walking about in a dignified manner, with a black 
suit on and a white tie, continually preaching, (as some seem to 
believe) he is generally working like a slave, in his shirt sleeves, 
at some mechanical work the whole of the forenoon. Perhaps 
his dear wife will come to him with an intimation that the safe 
wants mending, or the kitchen chimney looking to, or a hole 
in the roof needs to be patched. So these things have to be 
